Romney Denounces McCain-Feingold Law

Former Massachusetts governor and 2008 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks at the Livingston County Lincoln Day Dinner, Friday, April 27, 2007, in Whitmore Lake, Mich. (AP Photo/Tony Ding) (Tony Ding - AP)

BOSTON -- Mitt Romney, who leads the Republican presidential field in fundraising, is strongly denouncing the campaign finance reform law co-authored by one of his chief rivals.

The former Massachusetts governor is vehemently opposed to the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, saying the revised regulations controlling presidential fundraising impinge on free speech.

His criticisms underscore a major political difference with one of his campaign rivals, Sen. John McCain of Arizona. Romney has also recently criticized McCain on other issues, including immigration.

BCRA is the formal name for the "McCain-Feingold" law, a piece of legislation that reshaped election financing and bolstered McCain's upstart political status when President Bush signed it into law in 2002.

"I favor transparency," Romney told The Associated Press on Thursday between campaign stops in New Hampshire. "Let people make contributions and report it on the Web site, so you know who's contributed to whom, but McCain-Feingold has not worked. It's hurt my party, it hurts First Amendment rights. I think it was a bad bill."

On Wednesday, the same day McCain formally announced his candidacy, Romney said in an Internet posting: "The American people should be able to exercise their First Amendment rights without having to think about hiring a lawyer."

One of the law's authors, Rep. Martin Meehan, D-Mass., said Romney's complaints are rooted in politics.

"The law has been ruled constitutional by every court that has looked at it," said Meehan, who worked with Rep. Chris Shays, R-Conn., on a bill that was merged with McCain-Feingold. "Mitt Romney's criticisms are clearly motivated by his campaign against John McCain."

Other critics say Romney's complaints don't square with his past calls for campaign finance reform, including a 1994 proposal to publicly fund elections by imposing a 10 percent tax on the contributions to candidates choosing to finance their campaigns privately.

A McCain spokesman dismissed Romney's criticism.

"Senator McCain has fought against the corrupting influence of special interest money in politics," said campaign spokesman Danny Diaz. "As we learned last November, it is critically important that our leaders remain committed to representing the interests of the voters that elected them into office."

McCain-Feingold banned the unregulated, unlimited "soft money" contributions from corporations, unions and wealthy individuals to national political parties and federal candidates.